The Ontology of Change: Wang Bi’s Interpretation of the Yijing

Tze Ki Hon*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary WorksRGC 12 - Chapter in an edited book (Author)peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In the history of Yijing commentaries, Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Changes of the Zhou Dynasty started a paradigm of interpretation that lasted for a century. This “Wang Bi paradigm” is significant because of the deployment of key Xuanxue concepts, such as being, non-being, oneness, and multitude, to discuss the sixty-four hexagrams. Viewing the hexagrams as symbols of time and space, Wang Bi offers a philosophical reading of the Yijing whereby the former manual of divination is transformed into a spirited meditation on the power of human beings in mastering their fate. In this chapter, I will explain how Wang Bi turns the hexagrams into metaphors of temporal and spatial narratives giving meaning to human condition.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDao Companion to Xuanxue 玄學 (Neo-Daoism)
EditorsDavid Chai
PublisherSpringer, Cham
Chapter14
Pages267-285
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-030-49228-1
ISBN (Print)978-3-030-49227-4, 978-3-030-49230-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Publication series

NameDao Companions to Chinese Philosophy
Volume14
ISSN (Print)2211-0275
ISSN (Electronic)2542-8780

Research Keywords

  • being/non-being
  • correlative cosmology
  • field of action
  • Wang Bi

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